Generally described, virtual machines correspond to software applications on a computing device that emulate the performance of one or more hardware devices. In one embodiment, virtual machines may be utilized to mimic the characteristics of a specific piece of hardware. For example, a virtual machine may be used on a computing device having a processor from a first manufacturer to mimic the characteristics of a processor from a second manufacturer. In a more complex embodiment, a virtual machine can be configured to emulate an entire computing device by emulating specific hardware characteristics and being configured with specific software applications. For example, a host computing device may host multiple virtual machines that are configured to emulate the same hardware components but utilize different operating systems (e.g., version or manufacturer). In another example, a host computing device, such as a Web server, may host multiple virtual machines in which each virtual machine acts as an “independent” Web server with specific hardware and software configurations.
In one application, virtual machines may be utilized to emulate another computing device, such as a physical computing device or other virtual machine. For example, a user or system administrator may wish to “convert” a physical machine to a virtual machine that emulates a similar hardware configuration to the physical machine. Current approaches to convert target computing devices (e.g., a physical machine) to virtual machines corresponds to a multi-step approach that requires manual intervention from a knowledgeable user. Thus, the conversion process can be cumbersome and inefficient. Further, the conversion process can not be readily applied to various scenarios for implementing a virtual machine conversion.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method for converting target computing devices to virtual machines in a more efficient manner.